Justice Beazley also serves as President of the Court of Appeal and is an Officer of the Order of Australia.

The premier paid tribute to Justice Beazley's achievements in academia and as a mentor to other aspiring legal minds.

"She has not only been a leader in her chosen career but the way she has conducted herself, the way she's been empathetic to everyone in the community irrespective of their background really endeared me to appoint her," Ms Berejiklian told reporters in Sydney on Sunday.

Justice Beazley, in an emotional acceptance speech, pledged to be a champion of education, community and the rule of law.

"It's an absolute privilege to be given the opportunity to continue to contribute in such a public way to the life of the community and, obviously, I will do my utmost," she said.

She said working with community legal centres would be a continued focus as would working with regional and NSW indigenous communities.

"What I see as community doing is working together," she said.

"When we talk about diversity in community we don't only talk about gender diversity, nor do we only talk about ethnic diversity, but we talk about socio-economic diversity."

Justice Beazley said her family was shocked when she told them about her new job at lunch on Saturday.

"I think they went 'oh wow'," she said with a laugh.

She will become the 39th governor of the state when she replaces the outgoing governor David Hurley, who will be appointed as the governor-general of Australia in early May.